can I rid myself of this annoying windows XP feature?

Ok, I suppose it's practical for some people, but it really annoys me. When you've got several of the same program open, say I have 3 firefox windows, the tabs on the start bar automatically group themselves together. I'd much rather have them stay separated, but there's no option in the right click menu that allows that. Is there some way I can change the settings so that all my windows will stay independent of eachother?

It's been like that with all versions of Windows I believe. I don't know if you can get rid of it, but why would you want to? It helps organise your bottom bar better, and if you just click one of the programs on the bottom, it'll show you all the windows that are open for that program.
-Alex

Great, thanks. I know it's good to keep clutter down, but I like to be able to glance and see what I have open rather than just seeing "4 firefox." I expand the start bar to two rows anyway so it works fine even if I have a lot open.

Since we're fixing XP niggles, I've got one - how do I get rid of those dang balloons that always pop up regarding various functions that are occurring in my task list? I'm am well aware that there is not a wireless connection conneted - I don't need the balloons popping up all the time telling me so!

Since we're fixing XP niggles, I've got one - how do I get rid of those dang balloons that always pop up regarding various functions that are occurring in my task list? I'm am well aware that there is not a wireless connection conneted - I don't need the balloons popping up all the time telling me so!

Close! I actually like those popup windows. The ones I am talking about, though, come up from the items in the system tray that are currently running. You know, the area where your volume control is always shown, in the bottom right corner of the screen.

Close! I actually like those popup windows. The ones I am talking about, though, come up from the items in the system tray that are currently running. You know, the area where your volume control is always shown, in the bottom right corner of the screen.

The ones that tell me my internet connectivity or lack thereof (I'm well aware of it!) and the one that tells me my virus software needs to be updated.

Click to expand...

To disable XP's balloon tips, perform the following steps:

1. Start the registry editor (e.g., regedit.exe).
2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ExplorerAdvanced.
3. From the Edit menu, select New - String value.
4. Enter a name of EnableBalloonTips, and press Enter.
5. Double-click the new value, set it to 0, and click OK.
6. Close the registry editor.

or if editing the registry is too freaky... download tweakui from the microsoft powertoyz collection (select Uncheck Enable balloon tips)

1. Start the registry editor (e.g., regedit.exe).
2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ExplorerAdvanced.
3. From the Edit menu, select New - String value.
4. Enter a name of EnableBalloonTips, and press Enter.
5. Double-click the new value, set it to 0, and click OK.
6. Close the registry editor.

or if editing the registry is too freaky... download tweakui from the microsoft powertoyz collection (select Uncheck Enable balloon tips)